Many types of clips are available for fastening together a wide variety of different parts and materials. Due to the wide range of applications in which clips are needed, there are also a wide array of different clip designs that may be suitable for one application and unsuitable for another. One such application where many types of conventional clips are unsuitable is for fastening together clothing or textiles.
One type of clip that is known for clothing is a u-shaped clip with opposed arms formed from metal, wherein the bend in the metal biases one arm toward the other when a material is inserted between the arms. Examples of u-shaped clothing clips of this kind are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,586,656 and 2,000,923 and U.S. Patent Application Publication Nos. 2003/0101551 and 2006/0213036. The problem with these types of clips is that the clamping force decreases significantly over time as the bend in the metal weakens and the arms spread apart, thereby permanently reducing the clamping force and making it likely that the clip will fall off or not adequately hold the clothing. For example, where such a clip is used to clamp a thicker material, such as a towel, plastic deformation of the u-shaped bend will occur and make it unsuitable to later clamp a thinner material, such as the sleeve of a shirt.
A variation of the u-shaped clips includes opposed jaws on the interior of the arms to facilitate a grip on the material. Examples of this type of clip are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,962,758 and 5,546,641. In addition to having the same above-described problems associated with the use of u-shaped clips, the jaws can cause pulls or tears in the clothing material or scratch the skin of the wearer.
Another type of clip that is known for clothing is an alligator clip which has two arms that are connected in a central region by a spring so that the arms are biased against each other at a first end and form separated levers on the other end. By pressing together the levers, the jaws of the clip at the other end separate. An example of one such clip is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,615,454. In addition to the problems associated with jaws described above, the levers are also problematic when used on clothing. First, the levers are separated when the alligator clip is in a closed state and therefore create bulky and uncomfortable protrusions. Further, these protrusions from the body of the clip which can likewise catch on the clothing to cause tears or pulls or irritate the skin of the user.
A similar problem is present in binder clips, such as the type described in U.S. Pat. No. 1,865,453, which rely on movable levers and also include rolled-outward protrusions at the clamping section. In addition to the levers forming protrusions which make the clip bulky and uncomfortable for many applications, any movement by the levers while an object is clipped make the clip even more bulky and increase the likelihood the levers will catch on material and release. Likewise, m-clips, such as the type described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,946,778, rely on movable levers that can catch or be inadvertently moved to extend outside the body of the clip to form bulky and uncomfortable protrusions which can, in turn, cause the clip to release or material to be caught. Both the binder clips and the m-clips, like typical u-shaped clips, rely on the arms being biased against one another through an end section that is put into tension. Due to the varying degree of tension forces applied at the u-shaped portion, the clip will deform the material of the clip and decrease the ability of the clip to sufficiently bind material together.